Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.

craig.cordts — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 18:46:11 GMT

I have a Mac Book Pro in a corporate environment that continues to connect to a AP at 2.4 ghz when there are 5 ghz AP(s) with higher RSSI and are physically closer to the client. An example:

Client will (usually) connect to AP "A" at 5 ghz for an 1-2 hours then out of the blue, will connect to a AP "B" further away at 2.4 ghz. User will then complain about poor WiFi performance.

Network is 5520 Controller with 3802i 97 APs.

Network has been "tuned" using Cisco best practices.

APs in question typically only have 5-6 clients on them.

Per Apple, the MacBook should "default" to 5ghz.

macOS always defaults to the 5 GHz band over the 2.4 GHz band. This happens as long as the RSSI for a 5 GHz network is -68 dBm or better.

If multiple 5 GHz SSIDs meet this level, macOS chooses a network based on these criteria:

802.11ac is preferred over 802.11n or 802.11a.
802.11n is preferred over 802.11a.
80 MHz channel width is preferred over 40 MHz or 20 MHz.
40 MHz channel width is preferred over 20 MHz.

Anyone else seen this behavior ?

Re: Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 04:45:01 GMT

Can this issue be replicated with another MacBook Pro?

Re: Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.

Scott Fella — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 05:26:32 GMT

You sure your 5ghz isn’t hitting radar on DFS or are the channels changing on the AP? I’m assuming you are not seeing and radar, radio crash, etc? I have a few MacBooks and use them in various environments with no issues at all. Even my Windows machine is fine.

topic Re: Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz. in Wireless

Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.

Re: Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.

Re: Mac Book Pro connects at 2.4 ghz.